Someone to Notice
by rcfrenchhorn33
Summary: Penelope is offered help from an unlikely source when she decides that she's tired of Derek not noticing her.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

Sitting at her desk staring at the horrible images of the day, Penelope Garcia couldn't help but let her mind drift as far away from the case as possible. These days, her mind felt bombarded by horror constantly, between working long days and being stuck by herself in Quantico while the rest of the team was elsewhere. At least they had each other while they were working. She was stuck on her own, fighting her demons. Rather than thinking about work and their latest serial killer, Penelope was thinking, or maybe daydreaming, about the subject of her favorite fantasies: SSA Hot Stuff. Yes, her god of chocolate thunder had been at the forefront of her dreams and imaginings lately. Well, if every day of the past ten years counts as lately.

Much as they flirted constantly and could set a room on fire with their sexual tension, nothing had ever happened between the two, much to Penelope's dismay. She used to think that it would ruin their friendship, but since her recent breakup with Sam, Penelope was feeling lonely and was regretting never having taken the plunge with Derek. She knew that anything that would happen between them would probably be meaningless: more of a one night stand than any long-term relationship. Derek wasn't built for long-term. He was built for flings. At least, he used to be. Then he met Savannah and everything about him seemed to change. He finally found the right woman for him, but it wasn't her. It wasn't Penelope.

Penelope spent a long time wallowing in self-pity once Derek and Savannah continued dating past the usual one month window of time that Derek could be with a woman before he got bored or found someone else. Penelope was determined to not let this destroy her. She was his best friend and she needed to act like it, but sometimes it was hard to be supportive of him when she wanted to be the one he came home to at the end of cases. When she wanted to be the one he would hold when the demons were closing it, when the cases got to be too much. But she wasn't. So instead, she made that the subject of her fantasies. Her fantasies weren't dirty or smutty. They were just Derek holding her; Derek telling her he loved her; Derek coming back from a case and telling her that she was the only reason he made it through. That the thought of coming home and seeing her helped him to put another bad guy behind bars. That was what she wanted. That was what she was never going to have with him.

Penelope was so focused on thinking about Derek and how life could be better that she didn't notice the phone ringing until it was on the fourth ring, and because of that, she was so flustered that she couldn't even think up a clever way to answer the phone. "Garcia," she said.

"Penelope?" Reid asked. "Is that you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Super Agent," she replied, adding some feigned enthusiasm to her voice. "What can I do for you?"

"Kitten, are you sure you're okay?" Rossi threw in. "You don't sound alright."

"Seriously, I'm fine. Just a rough case. Now, how can I help?"

After some hard work from the whole team, they were finally able to put the bad guy behind bars. Several hours later, the team was in the air flying home to her. Ordinarily, she would wait at work to greet them upon their return, but today she just couldn't. She had decided that today was the last day she would spend daydreaming about when Derek would wake up and notice her. She was done. And she was done acting like a puppy waiting by the door for him to come home. So, instead, she went home, turned off her phone, and took a bubble bath.

While in the bath, she began thinking about anything but Derek. She wanted to be well and truly rid of the fantasies. They were never going to happen and the longer she thought that they were, the more pain she was going to be in when she realized it would never happen. She needed a break from him. A clean break. Maybe they shouldn't be friends anymore. It wasn't healthy for her to be around him all the time. For her to go over to his house when she was lonely and cuddle with him. For her to watch movies with him at the end of cases and sit so close together that she could feel him move every time he breathed. For her to flirt with him endlessly. She needed to be done with it all. That was the only way she was going to get over him. Maybe she should leave. No, she couldn't leave her family. But, she also couldn't stay and see him every day and every night and hear his voice constantly. She couldn't be there the day that he announced that he and Savannah were getting married or that she was pregnant, or on the other hand, that they had broken up. That would give her too much hope. Too much hope is a bad thing where Derek is concerned.

She was torn out of her ponderings by a pounding at her front door. The pounding grew faster and louder as she got out of the bath and put on her robe before exiting the bathroom. "Hold your horses, I'm coming!" she shouted, making her way to the door. Flinging the door open, she was somewhat shocked to find Rossi standing on the other side looking very worried. "Rossi? What are you doing here?"

"Checking on you. I've been worried sick, kitten. You sounded upset on the phone earlier today and then you weren't at the office when we got back and when I called, it went straight to voice mail. I needed to make sure you were okay."

"Come in," she said, opening the door widely so that he could enter and then closing and locking it behind him before joining him on the couch. "You don't need to be worried about me"

"I'm always worried about you."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, you see some terrible things on those screens of yours, and you're all alone here in Quantico, while the rest of us are at least together and have each other for support."

"I'm fine, Rossi. You don't need to worry about me."

"Yes I do," he said, while he looked at her outfit. "Did I interrupt something again? I'm sorry, I have terrible timing."

"No! It's just me here. I was taking a bath. I didn't feel like waiting at work."

"Why?"

"It was a hard case."

"They're all hard. Something is different. Something is wrong. What did Derek do?"

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong and Derek didn't do anything."

"Oh, I see." He took a pause before saying," Derek didn't do anything." He said this while giving her a knowing look, and that was all it took for the final walls of her control to come tumbling down. She began to cry on the couch and Rossi pulled her to him, holding her sobbing form and letting her cry into his shirt.

Once she had regained some composure, she told him everything. About falling in love with him when she first started at the BAU, about thinking that he loved her back, only to realize that he meant his love platonically, about not wanting to marry Kevin because he wasn't Derek, about Sam breaking up with her because he knew she would never love him as much as Derek. She told him everything that had been pressing on her heart for the past ten years. "I've been thinking about leaving the BAU," she confessed to him. "I don't want to lose my family, but I can't do this anymore."

"Don't leave!" he interjected, speaking for the first time in a long while since she had started opening up. "Leaving isn't going to help anything. You want Derek to notice you, right? I think I might have an idea."


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

"What idea could you possibly have that would get Derek to notice me? Derek will never notice me. He's spent ten years not noticing me. I don't think anything's going to change that unless I start wearing the tightest clothes I can find and dancing on him at the club."

"If Derek hasn't noticed you, it's only because he's an idiot. You're incredible and if he doesn't see that, it's his loss, but I think he still can notice you if you still want him to."

"I don't know that I do want him to. It would be too complicated. There's so much history between us."

"It might be worth it to try."

"Okay, but I want to know what your idea is first before I agree to it."

After a lengthy talk with Rossi and very little sleep, Penelope walked into the office the next morning looking a lot unlike her happy, sunshine-like self. The previous day had brought about a lot of emotional struggle for her, and she felt well and truly drained today. She really hoped that there wasn't going to be a new case today. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle it.

After getting into her office and starting up her babies, she went to the kitchen for some coffee, finding JJ and Reid at the table, Reid discussing the merits of reading Dostoyevsky in the original Russian versus English translations while JJ pretended to pay attention. Penelope did her best to ignore the conversation and tried to get her coffee quickly and return to her office, hopefully before Derek got in. She needed to prepare herself for the day ahead. Mostly, she needed to be ready for Rossi to set the plan in motion.

Unfortunately, luck was not on her side. When she walked back into the bullpen, Derek was sitting at his desk sorting through the papers laying on top, and Rossi was standing by her office, waiting for her to return. She had just decided to turn around and make a break for the kitchen when Derek spotted her.

"Hey, Baby Girl, how was your night?"

"It was alright. How was yours?"

"Good, Savannah had off work, so we finally got some quality time-"

Before Derek could finish, Rossi had walked over to the pair and had kissed Penelope on the temple in greeting.

"Good morning, beautiful," Rossi began, returning Penelope's smile. "Did you have a good night after I left?"

Penelope took a deep breath before answering, switching into flirtatious mode. "Yeah, but I had trouble sleeping. It would have been better if you had just stayed," she pouted as she said this, truly getting into character.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to stay. Really, I did. I just knew that I wouldn't be able to behave myself if I did."

"Well, you weren't very behaved as it was…"

"I try not to be," he said, smirking at her.

Pulling them out of their conversation, Derek coughed and Penelope couldn't help but notice the anger in his eyes after hearing their conversation.

"You were over at Pen's last night?" Derek asked in a very hostile tone.

"Yeah, we were having a late night chat, if you will," Rossi replied calmly, which only made Derek angrier.

"What were you talking about?"

"I don't know that that's any of your business. Plus there wasn't a lot of talking involved," Penelope lightly smacked Rossi's arm and started to blush when he said this. Encouraged by this, Rossi continued, saying "There was a lot of tongue, though."

"Whoa! What is going on?" Derek interjected, standing up now to assert his dominance and trying to gain some control over the situation.

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with," Rossi replied, still calm. "We're just having some fun."

"Penelope! Are you serious with this? You know this guy's reputation and you're just going to let him use you and then leave you? I thought you knew better."

"Woah! Who said anything about leaving her?" Rossi asked, having moved into Derek's personal space staring him straight in the eye.

Penelope was debating running back to her office and hiding for the rest of the day, but she didn't want to have to put up with this fighting between the two of them.

"Derek, you need to calm down," Penelope began. "I know what I'm getting myself into, but Dave and I talked about it and we both want to give us a shot. I'm a grown woman, you don't need to protect me, and Dave's not going to hurt me. I have faith in him. He knows the pain that I've been through in the past and he's not going to let that happen to me anymore. I trust him and I want to see where this goes."

Derek finally stopped glaring at Rossi long enough to look at Penelope before saying, "I'm never going to approve of this-this-whatever this is."

"I'm not asking for your approval, Derek. It's my life and my choice and I choose Dave. I'm tired of waiting around for something else to happen. Because it's not going to." With that, Penelope broke away from the two fighting men and walked to her office.

"Wait. Baby Girl, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing, Derek. Don't worry about it. You never have before."


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

Penelope was having trouble breathing. After she got back to her office, she collapsed onto her chair and the world felt like it was spinning faster than normal. She couldn't focus on anything. She just needed to breathe. Every time she tried, though, she started thinking about what she had just said to Derek. Had she given too much away? Would he be able to figure it all out now? She knew that that was the reason for all of this, but still, some things she would never be ready to share. Especially with Derek. Especially when it came to her feelings for him.

She was still reeling from the interaction when Hotch came into her office handing her a case file. "Round table in twenty minutes," he said before exiting her office and heading for his own. _This is good_ , she thought. _They'll be away and I can have some time to think things through and decide if I actually want to continue with the plan._ She let her mind take a break from the drama of the day and started preparing for round table. For the first time that she could remember, she was glad to have a case so soon after one was wrapped up, and she knew she would be glad to see the team go.

After the briefing during which she could feel the tension coming from both Derek and Rossi, she went into Rossi's office to talk to him before he had to leave.

"I don't know if I can do this," she said as soon as the door was closed. Rossi was packing up his things and getting ready to head out, but stopped his packing as soon as he heard her voice. He turned around and saw her looking panicked.

"What can't you do?"

"Act like we're together. What happens when Hotch finds out? He'll have to report us! Then we could get into trouble or one of us could be transferred to a different team. I should just leave. That would be so much easier on everyone and no one would get in trouble and you wouldn't have to pretend to have feelings for me and everyone could move on with their lives-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Penelope, take a deep breath and come over here," he gestured to the seat in front of him, which she went over to and sat down. Rossi began to rub her shoulders, attempting to calm her down. "You need to stop worrying about this. I talked to Hotch already and he's fine with it. He said that if anyone has a problem, he'll talk to them and we don't need to worry about it."

"You talked to Hotch about us?"

"Yes. I knew he'd figure it out, so I wanted to speak to him before you got in this morning."

"And he was fine with it?"

"Yes. I'd go so far as to say he was supportive of our relationship."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised. He was happy for us."

"I just-I didn't think he'd be so okay with it."

"Well, he is, so you can stop worrying about. And while you're at it, stop worrying about me. It was my idea, after all."

"But I don't like that you have to pretend you have feelings for me. You shouldn't have to do that. And what happens if you meet someone you want to be with, but you can't because you're pretending to be with me. It's just not fair to you."

"Penelope, please, just stop. You don't need to be worried about me. And as for pretending, let's just say that I'm not as talented an actor as you think I am. Now, we have a plane to catch. Walk with me to the elevator?"

"Wait, what do you-" Penelope began, but Rossi was already headed out the door. She got up and practically had to run to catch up to him. She caught up to him outside the elevator where the rest of the team was gathered, waiting for Rossi. Before Penelope could say anything, Rossi had his lips on hers. All thoughts of their previous conversation went out of her mind with his lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer, with his hands around her waist, and everything around them disappeared.

Penelope's world began to revolve around Rossi. Rossi's lips on hers, Rossi's teeth nibbling on her lips, Rossi's hands gently stroking her waist, Rossi's tongue sweeping against her bottom lip. Before she knew it, he had pulled away, giving her enough to make her addicted and then leaving. He leaned in and whispered, "Goodbye, Penelope," before turning around and getting on the waiting elevator with the rest of the team, who were all looking startled, except for Derek who was visibly fuming. Once on the elevator, Rossi turned around to face Penelope and winked at her before the elevator doors closed.

 _What just happened?_


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

It took Penelope several minutes to stop staring after the elevator with her mouth gaping open, before she could remember that she was at work and needed to get started on some research about the case. But how could she possibly focus on her job after that?! He had just kissed her! And it wasn't any old ordinary kiss. Not by a long shot. This was an earth shattering, knee quaking, life changing kiss. And she didn't even have the time to think about it and all that it could mean because she needed to get to work. She needed to help them put an end to this case so that he would come home to her sooner and all in one piece. Mostly so that they could talk about that kiss.

She finally was able to walk again about five minutes after the team had left and she made her way back to her office. Her brain was running faster than she thought possible, and her thoughts began to betray her as the realization hit: _He was just playing his part. He knew Derek was there. It was all for show. It means nothing_. Realizing this brought her quickly back down to earth. Maybe too quickly. She was devastated by the idea that that kiss could have possibly meant nothing to him. That kiss had changed her. And it probably hadn't done anything to him. She thought back to him after the kiss. While she had been in her shell shocked state, he had been aware enough to hear the ding of the elevator arriving, something of which she had been completely unaware. He also was able to adjust back to the real world after the kiss, rejoining the team as if nothing had happened. He seemed to not have been at all impacted by the kiss. _It must have meant nothing to him. Nothing._ She couldn't believe that she had let herself get so wrapped up in a kiss that didn't even matter. And it shouldn't matter to her, either. The whole point of this was to get Derek to notice her. _Well, it's definitely working,_ she thought. The look on Derek's face as the elevator doors had shut behind the team said it all. He was angry. Angrier than she had ever seen him. Angrier than he looks when he's taking down an unsub. _At least the plan is working, even if it's not going exactly the way I wanted it to._

She didn't have much time to continue her ponderings before she was being conferenced in to the team on the plane. It was good for her to switch back to work mode. Less time to be thinking about all of the things she really didn't want to be thinking about right now. She could tell by looking around the plane that there was a great deal of awkwardness from the group. Ordinarily, they'd be taking this time to go over the case, establish a preliminary profile, and start figuring out their first steps upon arrival, but right now, there was just silence on the plane. Everyone was visibly tense, making Penelope worry even more about what the fallout had been after they had left her.

"Hey, everyone, I have some updates," Penelope spoke, startling a few of the team members. "I'm sending everything to your tablets, but this one's starting to look like a doozy. Stay safe, everyone." She ended the conference call faster than she ever had before. Partially because she hated the tension that she had in some way caused, and because she couldn't face Rossi or Derek right now. She decided that she needed to get out of the office. Maybe take the rest of the case off. She never took time off work, and that need to run away came back to her because of all of this conflict emerging. Deciding quickly, Penelope made a call and scheduled a flight to take her away, even if it was just briefly. She needed a quick escape. Maybe forever. She wasn't sure yet. Calling Kevin, she asked him to take over for her and help out the team in her absence, before she packed up her things and headed home to get ready for her vacation.

 _Boise, Idaho_

"We'll have to get Garcia to do some digging on this before we can draw any conclusions," Hotch spoke to the team gathered in a small conference room in the Boise Police Station while dialing Penelope's number. When a man answered, Hotch removed the phone from his face, making sure that he had called the right number.

"Hello? Who am I speaking to?"

"This is Kevin Lynch."

"Oh, Lynch, sorry, I didn't recognize your voice. We have a bad signal here. Can you put Garcia on the phone?"

"Oh, Agent Hotchner, I assumed that she had told you. She's on vacation for a few weeks. I'm filling in for her in the meantime."

"I'm sorry, she's what?"

"She's on vacation. She didn't say where she was going, but-"

"Lynch, I'm going to need to call you back," Hotch stated before hanging up the phone and dialing Penelope's cell phone number.

"Hi, you've reached the voicemail of the amazing Penelope Garcia. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if I deem you worthy, I shall return your call."

After the beep, Hotch spoke in a more aggressive tone than most of the team had heard from him in a while. "Penelope, I don't know what you're playing at, but you need to get your ass back to work. Your team needs you. Your family needs you. I don't know what's going on here, but if I don't hear back from you in the next hour, I will be sending a team to find you."

"Hotch, what's going on?" Reid was the first to speak up, having paid attention to all that had happened, unlike most of his coworkers, who were focused on their case files and avoiding eye contact with each other.

"Penelope's gone."


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

"What do you mean Penelope's gone?!" Derek practically shouted across the table at Hotch.

"When I called her office, Lynch answered and said that she was going on vacation. When I tried her cell, it went straight to voicemail."

"That's not anything like her," Rossi stated.

"How would you know what's like her?" Derek started. "You don't know the first thing about her."

"I know more about her than you do, sonny."

"What did you say to me?" Derek stood up and started towards Rossi before Hotch intercepted him.

"Not the time, children. We need to figure out what's going on and if Garcia's okay. That is our priority. All of this fighting needs to stop. Dave, you and Penelope are seeing each other. Has she said anything to you recently about leaving?"

"No. Actually, wait. Yes, last night, she said that she felt like running away. She was talking about leaving and putting in for a transfer, but I thought I talked her off the ledge about that. She promised me she wouldn't leave. At least, permanently. You know how much she hates all of the horror we see. Maybe she just needed a break. A vacation."

"Then why didn't she call you or let you know that she was leaving if you two are so close now?" Derek asked accusingly. "Maybe having your tongue rammed down her throat made her want to run away as far and as fast as possible."

"No, I'm pretty sure having to see your face made her want to run away," Rossi retorted.

"I don't want to have to tell the two of you again. Knock it off. Start acting your ages. Stop fighting with each other and focus on Penelope," Hotch glared at the two men.

"Hotch," Reid piped up, "I hate to break this to you, but if Penelope ran away, we're not going to be able to find her. She's the best at what she does and she's gone underground before. She knows exactly what to do and worse yet, she knows exactly how we'd go about trying to find her."

"Damn it, Pretty Boy. I hate when you're right," Derek responded, looking both angry and upset at the prospect of losing Penelope. "You don't think she's leave permanently, do you?"

"No," Rossi responded immediately, like he had been waiting for the question. In truth, he had been waiting for the question. And in more truth, his answer was said with no confidence, because he was trying to convince himself that that was the truth more than anything.

"I agree with Rossi," Reid stated, "but we won't know for sure until we get back to Quantico and can see the state of her office and apartment."

"Okay, then. Let's deliver the best profile we can and then leave it up to the police. Maybe we can call in another team to handle it from here. We need to get back to Quantico and assess the situation before we jump to any more conclusions about what's happening. We'll deliver the profile in an hour. Wheels up in 90 minutes."

 _Gate 23E, Ronald Reagan Airport, Virginia_

Penelope sat at her gate waiting for boarding to begin, questioning all of the decisions she had made in the past few hours. Once she had decided that she needed to get away, she decided to truly go all in. She bought a plane ticket for London where she would stay with Emily Prentiss for two weeks before returning home. At the time, it had seemed like a great decision. Get away from the team, take some time to think through things, spend some time with Emily. It was a great plan. But now that she was finished planning and just waiting, she had a little too much time and was now second-guessing everything. _The team's going to be so mad when they find out. I should have left a letter or called Hotch or something. They're going to think I quit or up and left. This was such a mistake. I should just go home now and forget that this ever happened._ Penelope began to consider leaving, but before she left, she started making a mental list of all the reasons that she should go. _I need to get away. I deserve a vacation. I work too hard. Rossi. Derek. I can't be in Virginia anymore. I can't look at those pictures on my screens anymore. I need to get away. I deserve a vacation._

Penelope continuously went through the list, trying to affirm her decision to leave. _It's only two weeks. I can do this._ Before she knew it, she was boarding the plane. She truly had gone all in on this getaway. First class seating. She sat down in her luxurious seat and started flipping through a book she had brought with her. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice when someone sat down in the seat next to her. She only looked up when she heard the man speak to the hostess. Looking up, she was astonished at who was sitting next to her.

"Agent Rossi?"

"Hi, kitten, ready for our trip to England?"


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

"David Rossi! What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Well, kitten, you're not as sly as you think you are."

"Yes I am."

"Well, you are, but you didn't factor in how sly I am."

"Apparently I've been underestimating you."

"Or overestimating your plan. I mean, you could have gone anywhere and we wouldn't have been able to figure it out, but no, you're Penelope Garcia going through a crisis. You wouldn't go far from home, well, figuratively. Literally, you'd go as far away from home as possible. But, you wouldn't do so without family."

Penelope picked up her book and began hitting him with it as she said "you aren't supposed to profile me!"

"What did you think I was going to do? I was so worried about you, Penelope. Hotch called your office and Lynch answered and then he tried your cell and it went to voicemail. For all we knew, you ran away permanently like you had been talking about. I needed to find you. The fastest and easiest way to do that was to profile you."

"Please tell me that it was just you profiling me and not the whole team."

"Yes, it was just me. Hotch was planning on giving up on the case and having the whole team come home after delivering the profile, but I talked him out of it and came after you myself. Derek was not too pleased, but Hotch put him in his place."

"Well, why did you come after me?"

"I didn't want you to run away by yourself?"

"Why? Worried I'd get lost in England and never come back again?"

"Something like that."

"I'm serious. Why?"

"Because I don't want you to go to England and never come back." Penelope looked at Rossi after he said that, waiting for more. "I don't want you to run away, fall in love the place and the people and forget all about the little people back in Quantico."

"I could never forget about you, David," Penelope said, reaching out to stroke his face, his eyes not meeting hers. "I have no intention of not coming home. I just need some time away from everything. Time to sort things out."

"Sort what out?"

"What I'm doing, what I should be doing. Things like that."

"Well, can you figure those things out with some companionship?"

"I can try."

"Are you sure you don't mind if I come along? I don't want to be a burden."

"You could never be a burden. I'd love if you came with me."

After a lengthy flight, they landed at Heathrow and made their way to Emily's house. On the plane, Rossi revealed that he had called Emily in advance and she had insisted that they both stay at the house with her. Once they got to the house, Emily opened the door looking ecstatic.

"Pen! Dave! Welcome!" She smiled, ushering them inside.

"Em! It's so good to see you!" Penelope said, giving Emily a bone-crushing hug. Dave followed suit, giving Emily a slightly less exuberant greeting.

"I'm so glad you guys made it! I've been so looking forward to this," Emily began. "I'll give you the grand tour and then you guys can get settled in the room before going to bed. I'm sure you're both exhausted. That flight is not fun."

"That sounds perfect, Emily," Rossi responded.

Once they got started with the tour and Emily was talking about things happening with work, Penelope leaned over to Rossi and whispered, "Did she say room? As in singular?"

"Sh. We'll talk about it later."

They finished up the tour and Emily took them to their room. Singular. With a bed. Also singular. Penelope was freaking out. _How am I supposed to deal with this! Do we really have to keep up the act while we're here? Part of the reason I left was to get away from the act and figure out my feelings and what's been going on! I can't do that if I'm with Rossi, sharing a bed._ Penelope and Dave were suddenly left alone with Emily's parting shot of "try and actually get some sleep, you two. No messing around." Penelope was mortified. She could feel how red she had turned.

"Rossi, what's going on?"

"Well, kitten, when I called Emily to let her know that I'd be joining the trip, I may have mentioned that we were together now. I don't want her talking to JJ or Reid and mentioning that we didn't stay in the same room or act like a couple while we were there. It'll ruin the whole plan."

"Yeah, but now you've ruined my plan," Penelope mumbled under her breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Penelope, I've been married three times. I know that when a woman says something and then pretends that she didn't, it means that whatever she said was important. Please, just tell me."

"I said that you ruined my plan."

"And what plan is that?"

"My plan to get away from everyone and from all of the office drama so that I could figure some things out."

"Figure what things out?"

"Did that kiss mean anything to you?"


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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"Did that kiss mean anything to me?"

"Yes. That's what I asked."

"Did it mean anything to you?" Rossi replied, sitting down on the bed and starting unpacking his things from his suitcase.

"Answer my question first," Penelope responded, getting frustrated with his lack of concern for the conversation, or maybe for her.

"I don't know, kitten, I just-"

"You just what? Got a little too into your acting? Well, next time, can you just let the 'moment' pass by? I didn't ask you to do that."

"No, but you did agree to acting like a couple in front of the team. That's what a couple would do if they were going to be separated for an unknown amount of time."

"Well, I'm glad to know that none of this means anything to you."

"Penelope, that's not-"

"I'm going to go to bed. I'm exhausted," she replied, effectively ending the conversation before taking her suitcase into the bathroom to get changed into pajamas. When she emerged from the bathroom, Rossi was laying down on the bed, facing the wall. _Good,_ she thought, _now I don't have to talk to him. Maybe the rest of vacation can go like this, too._ She got into the other side of the bed and lay facing the opposite wall from Rossi. Before she had even settled, she felt his arm wrap around her stomach and pull her into him. "I'm sorry, Penelope. The kiss did mean something to me. Just like you do."

"I'm not sure that I believe you."

"Why?"

"Because when you kissed me, I couldn't focus on anything else. The world dissolved around me. I know that that's what people say, but it's what actually happened to me. And then you pulled away and it seemed like you hadn't been affected by it at all. You heard the elevator ding. I didn't even remember that we were near an elevator. How can you say that the kiss meant something to you when you were still aware of what was going on around us? You were just acting. Just doing your part."

"You don't know what I was thinking," she huffed in response and tried to pull away from him. He pulled her even closer and she could feel his breathing on the back of her neck. "Penelope, listen to me, please. When we kissed, my world melted away too. All there was left was you and your lips and your incredible body. Do you know how much effort I had to put into trying to pay attention to the elevator? The last thing I wanted was to get lost in that kiss, but that's exactly what happened."

"Why is getting lost in a kiss with me such a bad thing?"

"Because this whole thing isn't about me or my feelings. It's about you and Derek. You want Derek, Derek's an idiot, hopefully all of this will make him less of an idiot."

"What do you mean about this not being about your feelings? What feelings?"

"I thought that I'd made that perfectly clear."

"No. Nothing that has been happening has been perfectly clear. That's why I ran away. I needed to clear my head. Figure out what was going on."

"Why did you think I suggested we start this whole thing? I'm not actually a very generous person, Penelope."

"Yes you are. Don't say things like that. You're an amazing man."

"Just not amazing enough."

"Not amazing enough for what?"

"For you. Can we go to bed? I'm exhausted."

"No! We need to talk about this."

"In the morning."

"No! I know how this works. Come the morning, you'll pretend that none of this happened and we'll be stuck back at square one, only I'll be even more frustrated and confused, because I have all of this to add to the ever-growing list of things that confuse me about whatever is going on between us."

"But if we keep talking now, we'll say things we regret. Give too much of ourselves away."

"Dave, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Please don't worry about it. Just relax and go to bed. Everything will be better after some shut eye."

"Dave, I really don't want this conversation to be over. Please promise me that we'll actually talk about this tomorrow?"

"Of course, kitten. Now go to bed."

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After a few minutes, Rossi's breathing evened out and his hold on Penelope lessened enough that she felt safe getting out of bed and leaving their room. She was so confused and conflicted. She had come all this way to try and get less confused, but she was now drastically more confused. And exhausted. She probably should have just done what he said and gone to sleep, but she didn't think she'd be able to. Her mind was racing. She needed to clear her head. She wandered downstairs and found Emily sitting on a couch reading a case file which she closed as soon as she saw Penelope standing in the doorway. Penelope went over and sat down next to her.

"What's going on, P? You seem not okay. And you're dating Rossi? When did that happen?" Before Emily could ask any more questions, Penelope broke down and started crying.


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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"Pen, talk to me, please! What's going on?" Emily pleaded while Penelope continued to cry into Emily's shirt.

"Everything's just so wrong and I don't know what to do!"

"What do you mean? Can you try to take a deep breath and talk to me?"

Penelope gulped in air and after a few minutes was able to talk to Emily. Once she could talk, she told Emily everything. Derek being oblivious, Rossi's plan, her attempted escape, their conversation upstairs, everything. She hadn't meant to tell Emily, but it felt so good getting it all off her chest. Emily, however, looked as confused as Penelope felt.

"So, Rossi did all of this because he wanted to pretend to be in a relationship with you?"

"I have no idea, Em. That's the worst part. I don't know what's going on in his mind and now he won't even talk to me."

"Well, I think something you need to be asking yourself is how you feel about Rossi. I mean, you agreed to do this whole thing in the first place to get Derek to notice you, and he is, but just now, when you were telling me all about this, you didn't bring Derek up besides the initial plan. You don't have to answer this now, but you should be asking yourself if you still want Derek after all that's happened."

"That's what I've been trying to work out. That's why I came here in the first place. I was hopeful that I'd be able to get away from work, away from all of this drama, and just sort through things, but that didn't pan out. I don't think I can figure out my feelings for Dave with him sleeping next to me and holding me through the night. I won't be able to think clearly. You know, love the one you're with and whatnot."

"Well, I have plenty of rooms here if you want to sleep somewhere else while you're here. Your secret is safe with me, so you two don't have to pretend while you're here. I know it won't be as easy to sort through everything with him still around, but maybe even minimal distance will help."

"Thanks, Emily. I think I'll take you up on that. I really do need to sleep, just not with him there."

"Of course, I'll take you to the other room," Emily led Penelope to a spare room across from the room she had been sharing with Rossi. "And don't worry about figuring it all out right now. Things will look clearer in the morning."

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I'm right. It's me," with that, Emily left Penelope to sleep, though Penelope's mind was still racing too much for her to be able to sleep immediately. Unable to sleep, Penelope picked up her phone and started to read through her emails before she noticed the 34 voicemails on her phone. Two were from Hotch, one from Reid, one from JJ, and 30 from Derek. She listened to the four from everyone else and deleted the voicemails from Derek without giving it much thought before turning off her phone and finally succumbing to sleep.

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A few short hours later, Penelope awoke to a commotion coming from downstairs. It took her a minute to recognize the sounds she heard as voices, Emily and Dave. It sounded like they were yelling at each other. And now there's a third voice. Recognizing the voice instantly, Penelope pulled a robe over her pajamas and went downstairs.

"Derek Morgan! What are you doing here?!" Penelope practically shouted once she got downstairs. When she walked in the room where the other three were fighting, she saw Emily standing between Derek and Dave, with one hand on each man's chest, keeping them from fighting each other. "What's going on?!" Penelope cried, growing more confused by the second. "Derek, why are you here? When did you get here? How did you figure out where we were?"

"I got it out of Reid," Derek responded.

"How did Reid know?" Penelope asked.

"That's my bad, PG," Emily answered. "He called when you ran away because he was terrified and just needed to talk, so I told him what was going on. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Em. Derek, how exactly did you get it out of him? Please tell me you didn't hurt him."

"No! What do you think I am? A monster? I just asked him and told him that I'd do his paperwork for three weeks if he told me."

"So you bribed him? Derek, what's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you? Baby girl, I've been so worried. First you act weird towards me and then you start dating Rossi and now you're disappearing and going on vacation with Rossi. It doesn't make any sense."

"Why doesn't it make sense?" Rossi spoke up for the first time since Penelope had entered. "Does it not make sense that she could want to be with me? Why, because she should be spending the best years of her life pining after you? That's bullshit and you know it, Derek. She deserves better than you."

"And what? You're better than me, Rossi?"

"Boys!" Emily yelled. "Settle down. Let's talk about this like adults, not two teenage boys fighting over a prom date." Emily guided all three of them into seats facing each other and far enough away from each other that she'd have time to prevent any fights. "Now, let's talk this out. Who wants to go first?"


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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"I'll start," Derek pipes up. "I have some things I need to say and they took me a while to be able to say them, but I think I'm finally ready. Baby Girl, I've been in love with you since the moment we met." Derek looked over at Penelope, who looked shocked by his confession. "I saw you standing there, picking up some files and I just knew that I needed to get to know you better. I was so embarrassed that day that I called you by the wrong name, but you didn't even care. And from that day on you were my Baby Girl. We became best friends and I had always hoped that someday we would be more. But even I didn't realize how much I wanted us to be together until you started dating this fool," Derek pointed at Dave.

"Keep it civil, Derek," Emily warned.

"Fine. I'm trying. Honestly, I am, but him? Really? Why? You can do so much better, baby."

"Derek. Please stop," Penelope began. "I like Dave a lot and just because you're annoyed with my actions doesn't mean that you get to attack him. And it's your own dang fault that Dave and I got together. If you are so opposed to the idea, you should have gotten up the courage to ask me out at any point during the past ten years that we have known each other."

"I know, Pen. I'm so sorry that I didn't."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was so scared. What we have is so amazing. Our friendship is incredible. We've been each other's support system through everything. I was terrified that starting a relationship with you could someday mean the end of that. I can't lose you, Pen. I just can't. So, I wasn't willing to risk it and I suppressed all feelings I had towards you. And then that night that you got shot, I thought my whole world was falling apart. I didn't know what to do or where to go because you weren't there to guide me and I could have lost that forever. So, I had decided to finally tell you my feelings for you once you woke up and things got back to some semblance of normal. So when you finally got out of the hospital and it was just the two of us at your place, I told you that I loved you and I meant it. In every way. But you didn't understand. Because not two weeks later, I hear from other people that you're seeing someone else. And not just seeing someone else, but sleeping with him. I was so broken. I worked so hard to pull myself back together, and, no, I didn't pull myself back together in the best way possible. I drank a lot and I slept with a lot of random women that I picked up at clubs, but it was all so that I could get you out of my mind. And then I dated a victim's relative and lied to you about it, mostly because I wanted you to have to suffer as much as I did. But you didn't suffer."

"And then to top it all off, just when I was starting to get over the whole thing, Lynch starts asking me about proposing to you. I put on a brave face and pretended to be happy for you guys, but the whole situation was killing me. And he made you so happy, so I couldn't even tell you to say no when he asked. I tried to push you towards him. I figured that that way I could try to completely get over you, but you ended things with him. And my optimism came back immediately, only to be once again crushed when you started dating Sam. It forced me to realize that you weren't going to choose me. You'd probably never even consider me an option. In your eyes, I could only ever be the Derek who slept around with any woman he could get his hands on. I needed to prove you wrong, so I started seeing Savannah. At first, I didn't have any real feelings for her, because being with her was all about showing you how different I could be, but then I actually started developing feelings for her, but they never got close to comparing to the feelings I had for you. You know how I knew that? Because the moment the two of you told us that you were dating, I was so overcome with jealousy that I couldn't even function. I didn't go two seconds without thinking about. Thinking about how you should be with me, not him. I was so focused on you that I forgot completely about all the feelings I was supposed to have for Savannah. So, once I got home that day from work, I ended things with her. Because she'll never be you. You're the only one for me. I love you, Penelope."

"Now, Penelope," Emily cut in before Penelope could even gather her thoughts on what had just been said, "I think you need to let Dave tell his side of the story before you say anything. Is that alright with you?" Penelope nodded in response, too overcome with emotion to answer properly, and beginning to wipe the tears from her eyes. She looked up at Dave, only to find him no longer there.


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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"Where did Dave go?" Penelope asked, sounding a twinge panicked. _How did I not notice him leave?_ "Did he leave?!" Penelope got up from her spot on the couch and ran to the front door, opening it and looking up and down the street, Dave nowhere in sight. Penelope entered full panic mode at that point, wanting to run after Dave, but not sure which way to run. She knew that he was strong-willed and resourceful enough to avoid her for as long as he deemed necessary, so it was no use trying to go after him. Giving up, Penelope headed back inside to Emily and a devastated looking Derek. Both glanced up at Penelope when she re-entered the room, but no one was capable of talking.

"He's gone," Penelope stated simply, feeling worse and worse by the second.

Derek stood up then, saying, "I should go."

"You're not staying?" Emily asked.

"No. It's become pretty clear that I'm not wanted here."

"Derek! Don't say that. I'm sorry!" Penelope responded, tears starting to escape from her eyes. It didn't matter though, because by the time she had finished speaking, the front door had slammed shut. Penelope fell down to the ground, now sobbing. _They both left. They're both gone. I hurt them. I don't think I can fix this one._ Emily came down to the ground with her and pulled her in for a hug.

After a while, Emily spoke up, saying, "At least we can have some girl time now."

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Penelope spent a week at Emily's house, relaxing, trying to forget about everything that had happened, and trying to clear her head. Emily had prevented her from doing anything stupid, especially when she got drunk the first night after the men had left. In her drunken haze, Penelope had started dialing the number of Agent Jodie Burk, her immediate supervisor, about to request a transfer to a new department, but Emily had taken the phone from her before Jodie could answer.

The two had done some sightseeing, mostly because every time Emily didn't distract Penelope, she would start thinking about the whole situation again and she'd completely fall apart. They had spent a lot of their time during that week discussing the situation and trying to come up with a plan for Penelope for when she got back. So far all they had was that Penelope should go back to work. The sooner, the better. The longer she put it off, the harder going back would be.

So, with many more tears, Penelope finally packed up her things and headed to the airport a week later. She was a bundle of nerves the whole time she was traveling and back at home. She knew it wasn't going to get better until she was back at work. She didn't know how she was going to be able to face them, what she would say, what she should say. She didn't have any ideas. But she couldn't avoid going back anymore. Emily had been constantly texting her. At first they were just short texts of encouragement, but they quickly devolved into threats about what Emily would do to her if she didn't go back to work. So she did. At 5 am. Before anyone else would be there.

When she got into the office, all the lights were off, and she was able to breathe again. She headed into her office and locked the door behind her before turning on her babies and settling in to get caught up on work. Before she knew it, she heard the sounds of people starting to filter in to work. She heard Reid talking to JJ about something and then Hotch greeting them, but she didn't hear either Dave or Morgan's voices. After a while, a knock came at her office door, and she hesitantly got up to answer it. On the other side was Hotch, looking concerned.

"Welcome back," he said. "How was London?"

"It was good, sir. Hotch, I'm really sorry about-"

"Don't worry about it Penelope, I understand needing time off every now and again. Can you just give me some notice next time instead of just wandering off and leaving us with Lynch?"

"Yes, sir."

Hotch handed her a case file and started to walk away when Penelope stopped him. "Sir? Where are Morgan and Rossi?"

"Both agents have taken a temporary leave. I don't know when they'll be back. In the meantime, we're all hands on deck. I'm probably going to need you with us for this next one."

"Okay, thank you."

"Penelope, I'm not sure about what happened in London, but whatever is going on between the three of you, can you try and resolve it?"

"I'm trying, sir. I promise. That's why I'm back."

"Good. Round table in 20."

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A few weeks later, the team was in Denver, Colorado on a case. But the team wasn't really the team. It was just Hotch, JJ, Reid, and Penelope all trying to manage without discussing the absence of their colleagues. At this point, they were all mostly mad that the other two had yet to come back to work. Some of that anger had transferred to anger at Penelope. The other three members of the team did not know what had happened at Emily's, and because of that, the only person they could think to blame was Penelope. She was the only one of the group that had been in England to return, and they all assumed that there was a reason for that.

Penelope, meanwhile, was becoming more and more devastated every day that the men didn't return. She didn't care which one came back first, she just needed one of them there. She needed to be able to start making things right. She had been calling both of them every night, but it went straight to voicemail for both of them. Every time. And every time, it made her feel worse and worse about everything that had happened. She didn't feel the way that she thought she would. She thought that she'd feel amazing after finally hearing from Derek his true feelings for her, but having Dave run away like that hurt her far more than she thought it could.

She had been thinking about the situation a lot. More than she should. But she couldn't shut off that part of her brain. And tonight, she was doing her usual nightly routine of lying in her bed post-shower and thinking about how terrible her life had become in the past few weeks and how much she wished that everything would go back to the way it was before all of this nonsense started. Before she realized that she wanted Derek to notice her. Before she said yes to Rossi's plan. Before everything fell apart. But she couldn't go back. And part of her didn't want to. Going back would mean not knowing how Derek felt. Going back would mean never having kissed Rossi. Going back was the wrong direction. But she still couldn't get her mind to move on from all that had happened.

She was having trouble trying to relax after a long day at work. More like long week. So she was just lying there, partially on her physical bed, partially on a bed of self-pity. It was then that she heard a knock at her hotel room door. Answering without getting dressed or looking to see who was there, she opened the door to Hotch on the other side. But he wasn't alone.

"Dave."


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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"Dave. You're back," Penelope almost whispered.

"Garcia," Hotch interjected before Rossi could answer, "Agent Rossi is back and ready to get to work. Did you happen to bring his tablet with you?"

"Of course, sir. It's right over here. Let me just grab it." She walked over and grabbed the tablet before returning to the door. "It has the case file ready to go on it," she stated, handing it to Rossi who turned and walked away without making eye contact or thanking her. Hotch stared after him curiously, before turning to Penelope and seeing the look on her face. A look of true devastation. Her features started to crumble as Hotch stood there, so he wished her a good night and excused himself, not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on between the couple.

Penelope shut the door and collapsed back onto her bed, fully sobbing. She cried herself to sleep that night as she had every night for the past three weeks. But this time was different. This time was worse. This time she knew for sure that all of her worst fears were true. Dave hated her. Hated her so much that he couldn't talk to her; couldn't even look at her.

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The next morning, Penelope arrived at the police station they were using as their base later than the others. She had had some trouble finding a reason to wake up and go about her day. She didn't want to face Rossi or the rest of the team. She couldn't face him. But she knew that she'd have to eventually. She had left her hotel looking like she was still crying, mostly because she hadn't stopped crying since Hotch and Rossi had left her room last night.

When she walked into the conference room, everyone was gathered around the table discussing what to do next with the case. They all looked up at her as she walked in, and the room went silent.

"Pen," JJ spoke up first, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," Penelope responded, not sure how much she'd be able to say without falling apart again. She went to an empty seat at the table between Reid and JJ before pulling out her laptop and getting started on searches they needed.

Reid leaned over to Penelope, whispering, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," she replied.

"Penelope, I'm a profiler. And even more than that, I'm your friend. Something is going on."

"Nothing's going on."

"You're wearing black! Penelope, I have never known you to wear black. Ever. I didn't even think you owned clothing in black." Penelope looked down at her outfit, realizing that she was wearing black. She hadn't even paid attention to what she put on that morning. She had been too focused on trying to stop the tears and focus on work.

"Can we talk about this later?" she asked before returning to work.

The team began to brainstorm around her, but Penelope could not focus on what they were saying. Everything sounded muffled and vaguely like she was Charlie Brown and they were all the adults in the show. She sat staring blankly at her screen for a while, trying to not cry, when someone yelling her name broke her out of her revere.

"Garcia!" Hotch yelled, finally getting her attention. "Are you with me?"

"Sorry, Hotch," Garcia said before sniffling and trying to refocus on her work.

"Do you need the day off?"

"No! It's better if I stay here."

"Where's Morgan?" Rossi finally spoke. Penelope looked up at him, but he was looking at his hands.

"Morgan has taken temporary leave," Hotch responded. "I don't know when he'll be back."

Rossi looked up at Hotch before saying, "Why is he on leave?"

"He didn't say. He only said that he needed time off to think about things."

"But, I thought-" Rossi began.

"You thought wrong," Penelope interrupted before shutting her computer and looking at Hotch. "I think I do need that day off. I'll call Kevin and get him in on the case. I'll see you all tomorrow."

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Penelope stopped for a bottle of wine on her way back to the hotel, deciding that she deserved a little alcohol after the few weeks she had been having. Once she got back, she started to run the bathtub and poured herself some wine before settling in and trying to relax. She had just finished off her first glass of wine when someone started pounding on her door.

"Penelope!" the voice bellowed from the other side.

"I'm coming! Calm down!" She yelled in response as she got out of the tub and threw a robe on before going to the front door and throwing it open. "Rossi!" she yelped in surprise before she was pushed into the room, the door slamming behind them both immediately before Penelope was slammed into the door, Rossi right against her, kissing her, as the world around her dissolved once again.

"You didn't choose him," Rossi stated when they pulled apart to breathe.

"No. I ran after you once Derek finished talking, but I couldn't find you."

"You came after me?"

"Of course I did," she responded before his mouth was on hers once again, devouring her, making her feel at peace and whole for the first time in a long time.


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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The next morning, Penelope woke up smiling, naked, and in Dave's arms. She couldn't imagine a better morning than this. It felt as though all the pain that she had experienced in the past few days was melting away and all that mattered was here and now. Her and Dave. He was holding her to his chest and she was partially laying on top of him, using him as a pillow. She began tracing patterns onto his chest with her fingers while watching him sleep. He looked so at peace with the world. He seemed younger than she had ever seen him before. As she was watching him, he began to rouse and smile down at her before kissing her soundly.

"Mmm, good morning, handsome," Penelope said to him.

"Good morning, beautiful. How did you sleep?"

"Better than I have in years. How about you?"

"The same. Thank you for last night."

"Thank _you_ for last night. And thank you for coming over and for forgiving me."

"Thank you for choosing me."

"Dave, can we talk about us?"

"Of course, but Pen, I need to make something clear from the start here. I love you. I've been in love with you for a long time now. I concocted this whole plan so that I could get closer to you. I figured that the only way to do that was to try and convince you that I was helping you. But, I knew that as soon as we started pretending, I'd be able to convince you that I was the right person for you and that Derek didn't even deserve the ground you walked on."

"Then why did you run away in London? And where did you go?"

"Well, I left because you had finally heard all those things from Derek that you had been longing to hear. I just figured that your choice would be easy from there. And it would be better if I were to gracefully remove myself from the situation. I didn't want to stick around to be rejected by the woman that I love. Rejected for a younger, better looking man. I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle that rejection. So, I just left. And as for where I went, I actually went to visit some family in Italy. I wasn't ready to face Virginia again. But, I am sorry that I assumed that you would choose him over me."

"You should be. I know that I didn't pay attention to you the way I did to Derek and that I was only willing to pretend to be a couple so that I could get Derek's attention, but I was also intrigued by the idea of being on your arm. Seeing what it was like to be with you. And I'm so glad that I did. I, more than anyone, was astounded by how quickly I fell for you. That first day, when you kissed me, everything changed. I forgot entirely about Derek and the whole reason we started this. All I could think about was you. I dreamed about you and spent every waking moment thinking about you. You became more to me than Derek ever was. And you seemed to like me back, but then I wasn't sure and then everything got so confusing. And then I did what I do best and ran, but I was so glad that you came with me. But you were gone before long and I was so confused about everything. I've been crying myself to sleep every night for the past three weeks until last night. I didn't know how to contact you and make things better. But now you're back. Are we okay?"

"Of course we are. Pen, I want everything with you. Not right away. I know that we've not been spending time together romantically for a long period of time, so I still want to take things slow. Well, as slow as we can take them when we've already had sex."

"Yeah, but the sex was incredible, so don't withhold. We can still take things slow during the day and then have crazy hot sex every night, right?"

"Absolutely," he responded before pulling her closer and kissing her again, feeling round two quickly approaching. Or maybe it was round five. They had both lost track already.

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A few hours later, after a very productive morning in bed, Dave and Penelope were finally heading in to work. Once they got into the station, they could sense that the atmosphere was different. Something had happened in their absence. Walking in to the conference room, they quickly realized what was going on. Derek was back. And not looking pleased. Especially when he saw them walking in together. Holding hands.

"So, you chose him?!" Derek practically shouted across the table. "How could you choose him over me? Penelope, I love you!"

"I understand that, Derek, but you've treated me pretty horribly over the past few years for someone who loves me. I don't think I could ever be with you and truly forget about your past. Our past. I'm sorry."

"I need some time," Derek responded, getting up and leaving the station, stopping to talk to Hotch on his way out the door.

"That went better than anticipated," Penelope said to Dave.

"Yeah, I think he'll just need to cool off and find someone new and all can return to normal."

"I hope so."

"I love you, Penelope."

"I love you too, David."


	13. Epilogue

I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

 **A/N: Hey, everyone! I want to thank you for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Stay tuned for more from me.**

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Epilogue

 _Five Years Later_

Penelope was sitting in her office staring at her computers and thinking about all of the good things that had happened in her life over the past few years. She turned her head to look at the picture of her two families. One was her BAU family at a picnic they had six months earlier at Hotch's house. Emily had even come back for it to spend some time with her family. The other picture had been taken in the delivery room three months earlier, when she had given birth to her second beautiful baby boy, Spencer. Her four year old son, Aaron, was standing watch beside her bed, looking lovingly at his new baby brother. Dave was standing behind Aaron, staring lovingly at Penelope.

Penelope had never seen this future for herself. She hadn't had a family in such a long time that now it was incredible to her that she had two. Her life had improved vastly after the plan Dave had concocted when horribly wrong, or maybe perfectly right. After a few explosive moments with Derek, they were all able to move on. Derek had taken a while, but once he realized that Penelope was happier than he had ever known her to be, he could no longer object to their relationship. A few months after that, he had met someone new, and he seemed to have forgotten entirely about the feelings he once held for Penelope.

Meanwhile, Penelope and Dave had spent half a year dating before he asked her to move in. At the end of move-in day, they were eating dinner together and relaxing when Dave got down on one knee and proposed to her. Penelope accepted and followed up by telling him that she was pregnant. There was a lot of celebrating that night. Six months later, Penelope had given birth to their first son, who they named Aaron after the couple's most ardent supporter. Six months after that, Hotch walked Penelope down the aisle and gave her away to her incredible husband.

It had been a rocky road to get together, but they had made it. They had finally found each other. And now that they were together, Penelope was happier than she had ever been. She had two loving families and an incredible husband who loved her more than she had ever thought possible. She couldn't even believe that at one point, she had imagined a life without Dave. That she had imagined one with Derek seemed impossible, but all of that was in the past.

Penelope was pulled out of her revere by the ringing of her office phone. "The all-knowing goddess Penelope Garcia-Rossi is here to assist you in all your needs," she answered the phone.

"Hey, honey," Rossi answered. "Why are you still at the office?"

"I'm running some system checks while I'm waiting for my incredible husband to get home so that we can go home to our children together."

"Well, I called to tell you that the plane has taken off. We should be home soon. But you should go back to the house and try to get some sleep. Don't wait up for me."

"Do you promise to wake me up when you get home?"

"Of course I will, bella. I'm sorry that this case has taken us so long."

"It's not your fault, Dave."

"I know, I just miss you. And the boys."

"At least you get to be home tomorrow."

"Very true. Is Reid still okay with babysitting?"

"Yes, he is. We're all set."

"Good. I don't want anything to distract me from you tomorrow. Now, go home and go to bed. I'll be back in the early hours of the morning."

"Okay. Be safe. I love you."

"I love you too, Penelope."

Penelope turned off her computers and went back to their house, relieving the nanny for the night, before heading off to bed herself. She always had trouble sleeping when Dave wasn't home, so she slept on his side of the bed. It made her feel closer to him and like he was there. She could smell his cologne on his pillow and it lulled her to sleep.

At around 2 in the morning, she was awoken by Dave climbing into bed behind her. She turned around to face him and he pulled her into him, kissing her soundly before saying "Happy anniversary, Penelope."

"Happy anniversary, Dave."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

She fell asleep in his arms thinking about how lucky she was to have him and how lucky she had been that he had noticed her.


End file.
